Reference on this week's Mad Men

[Kamdan]

The character Paul Kinsey on the show wrote a script titled The Negron Complex and is trying to get it submitted to NBC. What gets me is that he called Star Trek "the hit television show."

 

[BillJ]

Probably just a nod to what the show would become.

 

[Warped9]

I laughed because I wondered if and how they might make a reference to Star Trek. In the show it's December of 1966 so the show has been on for only four months.

 

[Maurice]

I laughed because the "Negron" people were white, so they're playfully poking at the mythical Star Trek script about the world with the inverse race problem.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

What gets me is that he called Star Trek "the hit television show."

Well, in any event by December 1966 it wasn't yet "the failing TV show." Maybe the character's just a little overly enthusiastic about it.

 

[GSchnitzer]

The character Paul Kinsey on the show wrote a script titled The Negron Complex and is trying to get it submitted to NBC. What gets me is that he called Star Trek "the hit television show."

What would be interesting would be to find a contemporaenous account from 1966 (e.g., from a TV Guide or other magazine or from the side of an AMT Enterprise model kit box) that refers to Star Trek as "...the hit series."

 

[Maurice]

Don't forget that Harry corrected him about how tough a time slot it was and what the powerhouse shows were it was up against.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Even if it got less than it's "fair share" of one-third of the nightly audience, that's a massive audience compared with anything shows get today.

That Negron story reminded me of the terrible TNG episode, Code of Honor. The script made its way into Roddenberry's desk where it sat for decades, until one fateful day...

That episode was a key factor in my decision to bail on TNG altogether. DS9 finally brought me back into the fold, but that was years later. Paul Kinsey, you bastard! [shakes fist]